immediately from your highnesse by and under your Highnesse letters patents And whereas also by a statute made in the first yeare of King Edward the sixth entituled an Act what seales and stile Bishops or other spirituall persons shall use it was ordained that all and singular Archbishops and Bishops and others exercising Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction should in their processe use the Kings name and stile and not their owne and also that their Seales should be graved with the Kings arms And forasmuch also as it must be highly derogatorie to the imperiall Crowne of this your Highnesse Realme that any cause whatsoever Ecclesiasticall or temporall within these your Highnesse Dominions should bee heard or adjudged without warrant or commission from your Highnesse your heires and successors or not in the name stile and dignity of your Highnesse your heires and successors or that any seals should be annexed to any promise but onely your Kingly seale and armes May it therefore please the King at the humble supplication of his Commons to have it enacted That the foresaid branch of the foresaid Act made in the first yeare of Queene Elizabeth her raigne and every part thereof may still remaine and for ever bee in force And to theend the true intent and meaning of the said statute made in the first year of K. Edw. the sixth may be declared and revived that likewise by the authoritie aforesaid it may be ordained and enacted that all and singular Ecclesiasticall Courts and Consistories belonging to any Archbishops Bishops Suffraganes College Deane and Chapter Prebendarie or to any Ecclesiasticall person or persons whatsoever and which have heretofore beene commonly called reputed taken or knowne to be Courts or Consistories for causes of instance or wherein any suite complaint or action betweene partie and partie for any matter or cause wherein judgement of law civill or Canon hath beene or is required shall and may for ever hereafter be reputed taken and adjudged to be Courts and judgement seates meerely Civill secular and temporall and not henceforth Ecclesiasticall or Spirituall and as of right belonging and appertaining to the Royall Crowne and dignitie of our Soveraigne Lord King James that now is his heires and successors for ever And that all causes of instance and controversies betweene partie and partie at this day determinable in any of the said Courts heretofore taken and reputed Ecclesiasticall shall for ever hereafter bee taken reputed and adjudged to be causes meerly Civill secular and temporall as in truth they ought to bee and of right are belonging and appertaining to the jurisdiction of the Imperiall crown of this Realme And further that your Highnesse Leige people may bee the better kept in awe by some authorized to bee your Highnesse Officers and Ministers to execute justice in your Highnes name and under your Highnesse stile and title of King of England Scotland France and Ireland defender of the Faith c. in the said Courts and Consistories and in the said causes and controversies Be it therefore enacted by the authorities aforesaid That all the right title and interest of in and to the said Courts and Consistories and in and to the causes and controversies aforesaid by any power jurisdiction or authoritie heretofore reputed Ecclesiasticall but by this Act adjudged civill secular and temporall shall for ever hereafter actually and really be invested and appropried in and to the Royall person of our Soveraigne Lord the King that now is his heires and successors Kings and Queenes of this Realme And that it shall and may be lawfull to and for our said Soveraigne Lord and King his heires and successors in all and every Shire and Shires Diocesse and Diocesses within his Highnesse Dominions and Countries by his and their letters patents under the great Seale of England from time to time and at all times to nominate and appoint one or moe able and sufficient Doctor or Doctors learned in the Civill Law to bee his and their civill secular and temporall Officer and Officers Minister and Ministers of justice in the same civill secular and temporall Courts and Consistories which in and over his and their royall name stile and dignitie shall as Judge and Judges doe performe and execute all and every such act and acts thing and things whatsoever in and about the execution of justice and equitie in those Courts according to the course and order of the civill Law or the Ecclesiasticall canons and constitutions of the Realme as heretofore hath beene used and accustomed to bee done by for or in the name of any Archbishops Bishops Colledge Cathedrall Church Deane Archdeacon Prebendary or any other Ecclesiasticall person or persons whatsoever And that all and every such civill secular and temporall Officer and Officers Minister and Ministers Judge and Judges in his and their processe shall use one manner of Seal only and none other having graved decently therin your Kingly armes with certaine characters for the knowledge of the Diocesse or Shire And further be it enacted c. That it shall and may be lawfull by the authoritie aforesaid for our said Soveraigne Lord the King his heires and successors from time to time and at all times to nominate and appoint by his and their Highnesse Letters Patents under the great Seale of England for every Shire and Shires Diocesse and Diocesses within his or their highnesse Dominions one or more able and sufficient persons learned in the Civill Law to be his and their Notarie and Notaries Register and Registers by him and themselves or by his or their lawfull Deputie or Deputies to doe performe and execute all and every such act and acts thing and things as heretofore â—â— the Courts and Consistories Ecclesiasticall aforesaid hath beene and â—ow are incident and appertaining to the office of any Register or Notarie And further at the humble suit of the Commons c. it may please the King to have it enacted that all and singular matters of Wills and Testaments with all and every their appendices that all and singular matters of Spousals and Marriages with their accessories that all and singular matters of defamation heretofore determinable in the Ecclesiasticall Courts and if there bee any other causes of the like meere civill nature shall bee heard examined and determined by the said civill and secular Officers and Iudges in the said civill and secular Courts according to the due course of the civill Law or statutes of the Realme in that behalfe provided And that all matters of Tythes Dilapidations repayre of Churches and if there bee any other of like nature with their accessories and appendices shall be heard examined and determined by the said civill and secular Officers and Judges in the said Civill and Secular Courts according to the Kings Ecclesiasticall Lawes Statutes and customes of the Realme in that behalfe heretofore used or hereafter by the King and Parliament to be established And at the humble suite of the Commons may it please the King to
and No Constitutions or Ordinances provinciall or other canons to bee alledged therefore once they were all abolished adnulled shall be abolite and of no value and such other of the same Constitutions and Canons as by the said 32. persons c. shall be approved to stand with the Lawes of God and consonant to the Lawes of this Realme shall stand in their full strength and power c. These are the words of the petition and submission c. the letter of the body of the Statute in effect is this Be it therefore enacted c. That they nor any of them from henceforth shall presume to attempt alledge claime or put in ure any Constitutions or Ordinances The King and thirty two persons have no power to examine papall canons therfore papall canons intended to bee wholly abolished Provinciall or Synodall or any other Canons And forasmuch as such Canons Constitutions c. as heretofore have beene made by the Clergie or this Realme can not c by reason of the shortnesse c. be it therefore enacted c. that the Kings Highnesse c. shall have power c. and that the said 32. persons c. shall have power and authoritie to uiew search and examine the said canons constitutions c. Provinciall and Synodal heretofore made and such of them as the Kings Highnes c. shall deeme and adjudg worthy to be continued and kept shall be from henceforth kept c. and the residue of the said Canons constitutions and ordinances provincial which the K. Highnes c. shall never be put in execution within this Realme These are the words of the body of the Law the words of the Proviso are these Provided Canons provinciall already made only on authorised by the proviso therefore no papall Canons in force that such Canons Constitutions Ordinances and Synodals Provinciall being already made which be not contrariant c. shall now still be used and executed as they were before the making of this Act till such time as they be viewed searched c. by which words of the petition body of the statute and proviso three things seeme principally to be meant and intended First an utter and absolute abolition of all Canons Constitutions Ordinances and Synodals before that time made by the Clergie within the Realme or by any forraigne power within the Realme whatsoever Secondly a view search and examination of all Canons Constitutions and Ordinances Provinciall or Synodall before that time made by the Clergy within the Realm And lastly because the Church should not utterly bee destitute of all Canons c. Provinciall or Synodall a reestablishment or reauthorisement of all such of the said Canons Provinciall or Synodall as were not onerous to the people contrariant or repugnant to the Lawes Statutes or customes of the Realme nor prejudiciall to the Kings prerogative Royall was agreed upon till the said Provinciall Canons c. were viewed searched and examined All Papall and forraigne Canon Law then before that time made without the Realme being once inhibited to be attempted alledged claymed or put in ure and by consequence adnihilated abolished and made voide unlesse the same be againe revived and reestablished remaine frustrate and adnulled still and therefore ought not to be attempted alleaged claimed or put in ure Besides it is plaine that forraign and Papall Canon Law was never intended to be reauthorised because the same Law was never committed to the view search and examination of the King and 32. persons The King therefore and 32 persons by vertue of this act not having any authoritie to view search and examine any forraign Canon Law though he and they had deemed and adjudged any part of the same Law worthy to have beene continued kept and obeyed yet neverthelesse had not the same beene of any force or validitie For only such Canons Constitutions and Ordinances Provinciall or Synodall being not contrariant onerous or prejudiciall to the King to the Lawes or to the people were reestablished as were committed Besides whereas about twenty yeares passed divers Canons Constitutions and Ordinances as well Papall as Provinciall were alleaged by him that collected an Abstract against an unlearned ministery against Dispensations for many benefices against excommunication and against Civill jurisdiction in Ecclesiasticall persons the answerer in the behalfe and maintenance of those abuses challenged the author for not having proved his intent by law in force affirming that Tit. pag. 1. 2. The answerer unto the Abstract proveth by his reasons the Papall Canon law now used to bee abolished the Canons and Lawes by him alleaged were but pretended necessary and disused lawes that they were not inspired with the life of lawes that such were fathered for lawes as bee not Lawes and that it remained by him to be discussed how many of them were to be called in truth her Majesties lawes The reason of all which his exceptions he yeeldeth to be this namely that the Author ought to have proved them not to have beene repugnant to the customes of the Realme but to have beene in use and practice before the making of the act of submission For he must prove saith the Answerer that they are not repugnant to the customes of this Realme and shew us how they have beene used and executed here before the making of the statute yea he can say that they are by law established among us Which points saith he because we learne by law quod facta non praesumantur matters in fact are not intended to be done untill they be proved so wee must still put him to his proofes and in the meane time say that he hath gaped wide to say nothing to the purpose and that in his whole booke he hath talked but not reasoned All which asseveration of this Answerer if the same be true and if this plea bee a good averment to bar the Author from having proved a learned ministerie to be commanded by the law dispensations for many benefices to be unlawfull excommunication by one alone to be forbidden and civill government to bee unlawfull in Ecclesiasticall persons then much more forcibly may this argument be retorted upon all such as claime alleage and put in ure any portion of the forraigne Canon Law For sithence it hath never yet beene proved that the forraign Canon Law used and executed at this day was accustomed and used 25. H. 8. then because wee learne by law as he saith quod facta non prae sumantur wee must still put him and his clients to their proofe and in the meane while tell them that their Advocate hath twisted for them but a bad thread when by his reason he hath untwined all their lawes and broken a sunder the bands of their government Moreover because it is not yet proved that the forraigne and Papall Canon Law is not contrariant nor repugnant to the Lawes statutes or customes of the Realme nor derogatorie to the prerogatives of the
the Bishops and Archdeacons their Courts Wee will examine what fees Doctors of the civill law being Chancellors Commissaries or Officials have usually and ordinarily allowed unto them by their Lords and Masters Fees for probat of Testaments granting Fees for probat of testaments let to farm of administrations with their appendances of late years in some places whether in all or how many I know not have beene demised unto farm for an annuall rent out of which either a small or no portion at all have beene allowed unto the Chancellor or Officiall for his service in this behalf Whereupon as I conjecture it hath fallen out rather than that those Officers would worke keepe Courts and travaile for little or nought ther have been exacted greater fees for the dispatch of these things than by law ought to have bin paid Perquisits of courts arising upon suites commenced betweene partie and partie it must be a plentifull harvest and there must be multi amici curiae in a Bishops consistorie if ordinarily communibus annis they amount in the whole to twenty pounds by the yeare and yet these perquisits belong not wholly to the Chancellor but are to be devided between him and the Register And touching fees for excommunication and absolution fees for institution and induction licences to preach licences for Curats and Readers For testimoniall of subscription or licences to marry without banes fees for commutation of penance and fees for relaxation of sequestrations touching these manner of Fees if the same be fees no Fees due for the execution of the functions of the canon law dishonourable for a Doctor of the civill Law way warrantable how are not then such fees every way dishonourable for a Doctor of the Civill law to take either of Ministers or people There must be therefore some other hope of better reward and maintenance to incite and incourage schollars to the studie of the civill law than are these beggerly and unlawfull fees depending upon the functions and exacted by the Officers of the Canon law or els the use of the civill law as the Admonitor saith must necessarily in short time be overthrown For if Fees for probat of Testaments and granting of administrations with their appendices shall still be let to farme and if also many unlawfull fees were quite inhibited there would remaine I trow but a very poore pittance for Civilians out of the functions of the Canon law to maintain their Doctoralities withall But what better reward can there bee for Civilians than hath already beene mentioned If the Admonitor had not willingly put a hood Civilians in England live not only by the functions of Canon law wincke before his eyes he might have seene that the Civilians live not wholly and altogether by the practice of the Canon Law but partly also and that most honourably by the use of the Civill law If a Doctor of the Civill Law be judge or Advocate in the Court of Admiraltie if he be Judge or Advocate in the Prerogative Court so farre as the same Court handleth only matters of Legacies Testaments and Codicills to what use can the Canon Law serve him or what advantage can the same Law bring him in Beside to what use serveth the Canon Law unto a Doctor of the Civill Law if he shall finde favour in the Kings sight and if it please the King to make him one of the Masters of his Requests or one of the twelve Masters of his high Court of Chancery or to be the Master of his Rolls or to be his Highnesse Embassador unto forraigne Nations or to be one of his Highnes most honourable privie Councel or to be one of his principall Secretaries It followeth not therefore as the Admonitor pretendeth that either the Civilians in this Realme live not by the use of the civill law but by the offices and functions of the Canon law and such things as are within the compasse thereof or that the hope of reward and by that means the whole studie of the Civill Law must be taken away if once the Canon Law should be abolished Neither would it bee any hard matter for the King if the Civilians might find grace in his sight to appoint Courts Offices and all manner of processe and proceedings in judgement for Doctors of the Civill Law to heare and determine in the Kings name all causes being now within the compasse of any Civill or Ecclesiasticall Law within this Realme And although a little candle can give but a little light and a small Spring can send forth but a small streame yet because great fires are kindled sometimes by little sparkles and small streames meeting together may in time grow into great riveâ—s I shall desire the great Civilians with their floods and lamps of learning to help forward such a law as whereby the study of the Civill Law may be upholden the reward and maintenance of Civilians without any function from the Canon Law may be enlarged many controversies and disorders in the Church may be pacified and the Kings Prerogative Royall bee duely advanced Which things if it might please them rightly to consider then let them humbly and seriously beseech our Soveraigne Lord the King and States in Parliament to give their consents to such a Law as the project ensuing may warrant them the same not to bee dangerous to the overthrow of their civill studies The Project of an Act for the explanation and amplyfying of one branch of a Statute made in the first year of the raign of Queen ELIZABETH entituled An Act restoring to the Crowne the ancient jurisdiction over the state Ecclesiasticall and also for the declaring and reviving of a Statute made in the first year of King EDWARD the sixth entiled An Act what seales and stiles Bishops and other spirituall persons exercising jurisdiction Ecclesiasticall shall use FOrasmuch as by one branch of an Act made in the first yeare of our late Soveraign Ladie of blessed memorie Queen Elizabeth entituled an Act restoring to the Crowne the ancient jurisdiction over the state Ecclesiasticall and Spirituall and abolishing all forraign power repugnant to the same it was established and enacted That such jurisdictions priviledges superiorities and preeminences Spirituall and Ecclesiasticall as by any spirituall or Ecclesiasticall power or authority hath heretofore beene or may lawfully be exercised or used for the visitation of the Ecclesiasticall state and persons and for reformation order and correction of the same and of all manner errors heresies schismes abuses offences contempts and enormities should for ever by authoritie of that present Parliament be united and annexed to the imperiall Crown of this Realm by means whereof it may now be made a question whether any Archbishops or other Ecclesiasticall persons having since that time used or exercised any such spirituall or Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction in their owne right or names might lawfully have done or hereafter may lawfully do the same without speciall warrant and authoritie derived
have it further enacted That all manner of fees heretofore lawfull or hereafter by the King and Parliament to be made lawfull for or concerning the probat of Wills administration of the goods of the intestat letters of tuition receiving or making of accompts inductions to Archbishoprickes Bishoprickes Deanries Parochiall-Churches or other spirituall promotions and all other fees whatsoever heretofore lawfull or hereafter to be made lawfull for any travaile or paine to bee taken in or about the expedition or execution of any of these causes shall for ever hereafter be fees and allowances appropriated to the Judges and principall Registers of the said Courts equally to bee devided betweene them as heretofore hath beene accustomed and that the said Judges and Ministers within their severall charges shall be Collectors of the Kings tenths and subsidies granted and due by the Clergie taking for their travaile and paine in and about the same collection such fees as heretofore have beene accustomed Provided alwayes that none of the said civill and temporall Officers and Ministers nor any of them for any offence contempt or abuse to be committed by any person or persons in any wise incident to any of the said Courts and Consistories suspend excommunicate or interdict any person or persons but shall and lawfully may by authority of this present Act proceed against every offender and offenders by such ordinarie processe out of the said Register or Notaries office as is used upon a sub-paena out of the high Court of Chancerie and there upon default or contempt to proceed to attachment proclamation of rebellion and imprisonment of the partie offending as in the said high Court of Chancery is used Provided also that all appeales hereafter to bee made from all and every Court and Courts in the Shires and Diocesses of the Countrey shall bee made to the higher Courts as heretofore hath beene accustomed only with an alteration and addition of the names stiles and dignities of Archbishops Bishops and other Ordinaries unto the name stile and dignitie of our Soveraigne Lord the King his heires and successors And that upon the appeales so to be made it shall and may be lawfull for the Judges and Ministers of Justice of and in the said higher Courts to make out all manner of processe and processes and to do and execute all and every act and acts thing and things for the furtherance of Justice in the causes aforesaid as to them shalby the law seem equal right meet and convenient any law statute priviledg dispensation prescription use or custom heretofore to the contrarie in any wise notwithstanding Provided also that all and everie such Judge and Minister that shall execute any thing by vertue of this act shall from time to time obey the Kings writ and writs of prohibition of attachment upon prohibition and indicavit and not to proceed contrary to the tenour of such writ or writs in such and the same manner and form and condition as they have or ought to have done be ore the making of this act any thing in this act to the contrary notwithstanding Provided also that this act or any thing therein contained shall not extend or be interpreted to give any authoritie to the said Judges and Officers or any of them to put in execution any civill or Ecclesiasticall law repugnant or contrariant to the lawes statutes or customes of the Realme or hurtfull to the Kings Prerogative Royall And thus it may seeme to be but a small labour a little cost and an easie matter for the King his Nobles and Wisemen of the Realme to devise formes of judgement and manner of processe and proceedings without any offices or functions of the Canon law whereby the use and studie of the Civill Law and the reward and maintenance for Civilians might be furthered and increased and not utterly overthrown and taken away as the Admonitor uncivily beareth us in hand As for the alteration of the censure of excommunication for contumacy mentioned in this project we have the consent of the reverend Bishops in this admonition that the same may be altered For the Admonitor their Prolocutor speaketh on this wise viz. As for the excommunication Pag. 138. Excommunication for contumacie by the Admonitors judgement may be taken away without offence and with the good liking of the Bishops practised in our Ecclesiasticall Courts for contumacie in not appearing or not satisfying the judgement of the Court if it had pleased the Prince c. to have altered the same at the beginning and set some other order of processe in place thereof I am perswaded saith he that the Bishops and Clergie of the Realme would have beene very well contented therewith And speaking of a certain manner of civill discomoning used in the Church of Tigure he further addeth viz. Which or the like good order devised by some godly persons if it might be by authoritie placed in this Church c. I think it would be gladly received to shun the offence that is taken at the other ADMONITION And matters of Tythes Testaments and Matrimonie matters also of adulterie slander c. are in these mens judgements meere temporall c. therfore to be dealt in by the temporall Magistrate only which as yet have either none at all or very few laws touching those things therefore the common law of the Realme must by that occasion receive also a very great alteration For it will be no small matter to apply these things to the temporall law and to appoint Courts Officers and manner of processe and proceedings in judgement for the same ASSERTION Indeed we hold that all these matters wherof mention is here made Matters of tythes and other causes of like nature pertain to civill justice and all others of the like nature are merely civill and temporall and by the temporall Magistrate alone to be dealt in and to bee discussed if we consider the administration of externall and civil justice And this we thinke will be granted of all and not to be denyed of any unlesse they be too too popishly addicted In regard whereof we have drawn as before is mentioned a project how Courts and manner of processe and proceedings in judgement by Doctors of the Civill Law may be appointed by the King and his high Court of Parliament without that that the common Law of the Realme by the occasion of any such courts offices or manner of processe and proceedings must receive any alteration at all much lesse a very great alteration Howbeit if it should not please the King and that the Civilians could not finde favour in his sight by courts offices and manner of processe and proceedings in judgement before specified or by the like to have the studie of the civill Law advanced yet we thinke it convenient once again How matters of tyths c. may be dealt in by â—he Kings Iudges to be examined how these matters may be dealt in according to the rules and grounds
that the King chiefly desiring to sustaine the people in tranquillitie and peace and to governe according to the lawes usages and franchises of his land by the assent and expresse will and accord of the Dukes Earles Barons and the Commons of his Realme and of all other whome these things touched ordained that all they c. By which desire of the King and words of the Act wee learne that our soveraigne Lord King Iames may sustaine his people The king with the assent of the nobles and commous may repeale statutes without consent of prelates 25 Ed 3. in tranquillitie and peace and governe according to the lawes usages and franchises of his kingdome though the assent and accord of Prelates bee never required to the enacting of any statute in Parliament Nay such hath beene and yet is the power of the King that with the assent and accord of the Nobles and Commons he hath authoritie to adnull and make voide even those Acts which in favour of Prelacie and assent of Prelates have beene enacted in Parliament As by an Act made in the time of King Edward the third is plainly to be seene For whereas the King by assent of the Prelates Earles c had willed and granted for him and for his heires certaine articles firmly to be kept and holden for ever namely that the Ministers of holy Church for money taken for redemption of corporall penance nor for proofe and accompt of Testaments nor for solemnitie of Mariage c. should not be impeached c. before the Kings Justices neverthelesse the same king in the same yeare with assent of the Earls Barons and other wise men of the Realme and without assent of Prelates revoked and adnulied the same articles againe Again king Richard the second hearing the complaints of his faithfull leige people and by their clamour in divers parliaments of divers abuses crept in against the solemne and devout ordinations of Churches c at the request and complaint of the commons by the advice 3 R. 2 c. 3. 7 R. 2 c. 12. and commonassent of the Lords temporall without mention of any Lords spiritual is said to have ordained That none of the kings liege people c. should take or receive within the Realm of England any procuracie c. And in the eleventh yeare of the same kings raign it is especially provided that the appeals pursuits c. made and given in the same parliament be approved affirmed and established as a thing Act. Mo. R. 2. duely made for the weale and profit of the king and of all the realm notwithstanding that the Lords spirituall and their procurators did by protestation absent them out of the Parliament at the time of the said judgement given And the like protestation being made by the Prelates and Clergie at a Parliament holden the third yeare of the same king it was replyed for the king that neither for their said protesttation The king bound by his oath to do his laws to be made though prelates protest against him or other words in that behalfe the king would not stay to grant to his Justices in that case and all other cases as was used to be done in times past and as he was bound by vertue of his oath at his coronation By all which premises it is as cleare as the Sun shining at noon day that the Lords spirituall be so farre from making any one of the three Estates as that if it please the king they may not bee so much as any member or part of any of the three Estates at all If in the time of king Henry the eight the Lords spirituall being then more in number than the Lords temporall had beene but such principall members of the high estate of Parliament as without whom neither law could The Lords spiritual no principall members of the parliaâ—ent otherwise than as the King pleaseth have beene made Monasterie nor Priorie might have beene dissolved what could the king have done as head and the Commons have done as feet and the Nobles have done as the heart the Liver and the Longs to the dislording and discloystering of the Abbots and Priors the Monkes and the Friers of those dayes In case the Prelates with their armes and with their shoulders with their hands and with their hornes had heaved and shoved and pushed and thrusted to the contrary But to come nearer unto our owne times and remembrances if it cannot be proved that above one Lord spirituall was present in parliament and gave any assent to the enacting of statutes made in the first yeare of the Queenes Majesties raigne deceased but that it bee a No Lords spirituall present in parliament 1 Eâ— cleare case that the ancient jurisdiction preeminences rights and priviledges of the kings Crowne were restored that poperie and superstition was banished and the doctrine of the holy Gospell harboured only by the Queene the Lords temporall and commons what more plaine evidence or better prooâ—e can there be that the Lords spirituall by any necessitie be neither principalls nor accessaries neither branches nor buds nor any essentiall member of the house of Parliament And of this opinion are the soundest Historians and sincerest Divines of our age In the fifteenth yeare of King Edward the third saith Master Fox divers petitions being put up in Parliament against provisions comming Act. Mâ— fol. 320. from Rome the Kings answer and agreement was made in form following viz. It is agreed by the Kings Earles Barons Justices and other wise men of the Realme That the petitions aforesaid bee made in sufficient forme of law Where it is to be noted saith hee that at the grant hereof the consent of the Bishops is neither named nor expressed with the Lords of Parliament and yet the Parliament standeth in his full force notwithstanding At an other Parliament Act. Mo. 525. saith he William Wicham Bishop of Winchester for a slanderous report savouring of a contumelious lye and proceeding of a subtile zeale meaning falshood was so by the Duke of Lancaster pursued that by act of Parliament he was condemned and deprived of all his temporall goods And this seemeth to have beene done saith Master Fox without assent and against the wills of the Lords spirituall for afterward at an other Parliament great suite was made by the Clergie for deliverance of the said Bishop and being asked a subsidie in the Kings behalfe with great lamentation they complained for lacke of their fellow and brother of Winchester and denyed to joyne themselves in any tractation of any such matter And in another Parliament holden at Yorke in the sixth yeare of King Edward the third all such Act. Mo. 519. lawes as then passed and were concluded by the King Barons and Commons were good notwithstanding the absence or malice of the Lords Spirituall For it is recorded saith he that onely the Archbishop of Yorke the Bishop of Lincolne and the Abbots
trouble and expence yea and with greater priviledge than he did before Thus therefore touching the office and person of the King the duetie of the Presbyterie and people the right of the Patron and the person of the Minister to be ordained thus and thus we say and thus and thus as we think may our sayings well stand with lawes setled By an act primo Eliz. c. 1. the King hath full power and authoritie by Letters Patents under the Great Seale of England when and as often as need shall require as he shall thinke meete and convenient and for such and so long time as shall please his Highnesse to assigne name and authorize such person or persons being naturall borne subjects as his Majestie shall thinke meet to exercise use occupie and execute under his Highnesse all manner of jurisdictions priviledges and preheminences in any wise touching or concerning any Spirituall or Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction within this Realme of England Againe by the booke of ordeyning Bishops Priests and Deacons it is prescribed that the Bishops with their The Bb. and Priests must lay on their hands Priests shall lay their hands severally upon the heads of every one that receiveth Orders that every one to be made a Minister must be of vertuous conversation and without crime sufficiently instructed in the holy Scriptures a man meet to exercise his ministerie duely that he must be called tried and examined that he must be presented by the Archdeacon and be made openly in the face of the Church with prayer to God and exhortation to the people And in a statute made 21. of King Hen. 8. it is affirmed That a Bishop The Bishops must use six Chapleins at giving of orders must have sixe Chaplaines at giving of orders Besides by an ancient and lowable custome the Parishes and Parish Churches within every Archdeaconrie remaine unto this day distributed into certaine Deanries the Parson or Vicar of the auncientest Church commonly called the Mother Church of the Deanrie unlesse by Every Archdeacon divided into Deanries consent some other be chosen by the Ministers themselves hath the first place and is the chiefe director and moderator of whatsoever things are propounded in their Synodall meeting which Minister also is called Archipresbyter or Decanus curalis according to the appellation of the chief Minister of the mother or chief Church of that Diocesse who is called Archipresbiter or Decanus cathedralis so that unto this day these Ministers meeting at the Archdeacons visitations once in a yeere at the least there remaineth in the in the Church of England a certaine image or shadow of the true ancient and Apostolicall conference and meetings Wherefore from these lawes and from this ancient manner of the meetings of Ministers and of having one principal and chief Moderator amongst them according to the Apostolicall practice and usage of the primitive Church thus already setled in the Church of England wee humbly leave it to be considered by the Kings Majestie First whether it were not meet and convenient for his Highnes by his letters patentes under the great Seale of England to assigne A Minister to be ordained by the Bishops and a â—ompany of Ministeâ—s at the Kings commandement name and authorize the Bishops and six or moe Ministers within every Deanerie continually resiant upon their benefices and diligently teaching in their charge to use and execute all manner of jurisdiction priviledge and preheminence concerning any spirituall ordination election or institution of Ministers to be placed in the Parochiall Churches or other places with cure of soules within Secondly when any Parish Church or other place with cure of soules shall be voide whether it were not meet and convenient that the auncients and chiefe Fathers of that place within a time to be limited for that purpose should intimate the same vacancie unto Vacancie of a benefice to be intimated tâ— the Kingâ— office the office of the Kings civill Officer appointed for that Shire or Diocesse to the end the same Officer by authoritie from the King might command in the Kings name the Bishop and other Ministers to elect and ordaine and the people of the same place to approve and allow of some able and godly person to succeede in the Church Thirdly the Patrone if the same be a common and lay person A Lay patrone insteed of varying his Clerk may present two Clerks at one time having now libertie to vary his Clerk if he be â—ound unable whether it were not meet and convenient to avoide all manner of varying that within the time perâ—â—xed hee should nominate at one time two Clerks to bee taken out of the Uniâ—ersities or other Schooles and Nurseries of the Prophets and that the same nomination be made unto the Bishop and the said sixe Ministers to the end that both the Clerkes being tried and examined by them the abler of the two might be preferred to that charge And of this manner of presenting two Clerkes by the Patrone we have a president not much unlike in the statute for nomination of Suffraganes By which act every Archbishop and Bishop desiring to have a Suffragane hath libertie to name and present unto the King two honest and discreet Spirituall Persons c. that the King may give to one such of the said two Spirituall Persons as shall please his Majestie the title name stile and dignitie of a Suffragane Fourthly the Bishops and Presbyters having thus upon triall and A Minister found able for gifâ—s is to be sent to the parish that his life may be examined and to have the consent of the people examination found one of the Patrones Clerks to be a fit and able man to take upon him the executioÌ„ of the Ministery in that Church whether it were not then meet and convenient that by them he should forthwith be sent to the same Church as well to acquaint the people with their judgement and approbation of his gifts and abilitie to teach as also that for a time he should converse and abide amongst them to the end his life manners and behaviour might be seen into and enquired after by their carefull endeavours Fiftly the people within a time to be perfixed not making and proving before the Magistrate any just exception against his life A man allowed for gifts and Conversation is to be ordained with prayer fasting and laying on of hands A Minister to be inducted into thâ— Church bâ— the Kinâ—â— Writ manners and conversations whether it were not then meete and convenient that the Bishop with sixe â—ther Ministers or moe of the same Deanrie authorized by the King as aforesaid under some paine and within a certaine time should be bound in the presence of the Elders and people and in the same Church with fasting prayer and laying on of hands to ordaine and dedicate him to the Ministerie and Pastorall charge of that Church Lastly these things being thus finished whether it were not
they joyntly should not execute the discipline of Christ viz. excommunication and other censures of the Church in every parish within his kingdome If it bee answered that in this case the Presbyter alone doth excommunicate is it not as if one should say that the executioner doth give judgement when at the commandement of the Judge he smiteth off the head or casteth downe the ladder or may not as much be said for the execution whereof we speak that the Pastor only should excommunicate when by vertue of his office with the consent and not by the prescript of the elders associated unto him he should declare and pronounce the partie to be excommunicated but let it be granted that Rowland Allen denounceth the lesson which is written in the paper for him to read yet it is cleare by the precept that the same must bee done by the prescript of Doctor Hone Besides Doctor Hone he citeth he precognizateth the parties and they being absent hee pronounceth them contumaciter absentes and in poenam contumaciarum suarum hujusmodi decreeth them to bee excommunicate and are not all these necessarie parts incident to the execution of discipline by excommunication And how then can the Minister bee said to excommunicate alone when Doctor Hone of necessitie must play three parts of the foure without all or without any one of which parts the excommunication by reason of a nullitie is meerely voide Againe the Act being done as it were uno puncto ac uno halitu and Rowland Allen and Doctor Hone having their commission from the Archdeacon in solidum how can their judgement be divided Furthermore to say that Rowland Allen doth excommunicate by the authoritie of Doctor Hone were to overthrow the intendment of the article Because by the scope of the article it is plaine that the presbyter to be associated to the officiall must only derive his authoritie from one who hath taken Ecclesiasticall orders But those orders Doctor Hone never tooke otherwise Rowland Allens presence had been unnecessarie and superfluous And therefore if the excommunication bee of any validitie then is discipline by excommunication in the Church of England exercised partly by our lay-Elder as they call him and partly by one Ecclesiasticall Elder wherein againe it is worthy the observation for the matter we have in hand that D. Hone a meere lay and temporall man hath authoritie from the Archdeacon to call and associate unto him and to prescribe R. Allen a Presbyter and an other mans hireling Curate in Southwarke to excommunicate not only the Parochians of an other Pastors charge but any other Pastour whatsoever subject to the Archdeacons jurisdiction And hath not the Kings highnesse then as good right as great a priviledge and as high a Prerogative to command Master Doctor Andros or Master Doctor King and lay Elders by a lawfull election to be associated unto either of them to excommunicate either of their owne parishioners for publike drunkennesse or other notorious sinnes committed in their owne parish For if it be lawfull at the voice of a lay stranger that an hireling and stipendarie Curate should chase an other mans sheep out of his owne fold how much more is it it lawfull that a true shepheaâ—d should disciplinate his owne sheepe feeding and couchant within his own pasture and within his owne fold Furthermore touching the admittance of governing Elders or lay Elders as they call them unto the Minister of every congregation according to the former pattern of one lay Elder that the same is not a matter so strange for lay men to bee joyned in this charge Lay men appointed by the Queenes injunctions to execute some part of discipline of ecclesiasticall government as the opposites beare us in hand to bee it shall not be amisse to call unto their remembrances one of our late Soveraigne the Queenes injunctions whereby certaine lay persons called overseers were commanded to be chosen by the ordinaries in every parish for the better retaining of the people in obedience unto divine service In every parish saith the Injunction three or foure discreet men which tender Gods glory and his true religion shall bee appointed by the Ordinaries diligently to see that all the parishioners duely resort unto their Church upon all Sundayes and holydayes and there to continue the whole time of the Godly Service And all such as shall be negligent in resorting to the Church having no great or urgent cause of absence they shall straightly call upon them and after due admonition if they amend not they shall denounce them to the Ordinarie Thus farre the injunction Which that it is not meant of the Church wardens appeareth by the very next article for unto them as is assigned an other name so also another office That sidemen also are not these kinde of overseers is plaine in that they be neither so many in number as are here required neither chosen by the Ordinaries neither yet doe they admonish and denounce according to this article Wherefore because it is meet that the effect of this injunction being religious should be put in due execution it seemeth a thing very reasonable and much tending to the honour of the King that his Highnesse under his letters patents would bee pleased to appoint three foure or more discreet and faithfull persons in every Parish not only to performe the effect of this article but also generally to oversee the life and manners of the people that without great and urgent causes they resort not unto Typling-houses or houses of evill note and suspected fame and that upon the Sabbaths they use no heathenish dancing about their disguised May-poles And after due admonition if they amend not to denounce them to the Pastor of the place For then might the Pastor Book of the form of ordeining Priests be encouraged to give his faithfull diligence as at the time of his ordination he solemnly promiseth unto the Bishop alwaies to Minister the Doctrine and Sacraments and Discipline of Christ as the Lord hath commanded by which words inserted it the booke there is a plaine and open confession made by all estates in Parliament that Christ hath not only established discipline but a certaine forme of discipline in his Church and that the pastour to whom Every Minister ought to minister the discipline of Christ in his owne cure by consent of Parliament the care and charge is committed to teach the people ought to minister the same discipline For it had beene a very absurd part for the Parliament to appoint the Bishop to receive a promise from the Ministers to minister the discipline of Christ if Christ had not instituted a discipline or that the same discipline which he instituted had not in their judgements belonged unto the Minister And therefore this very letter of the booke convinceth the whole answer made unto the abstract touching this point to be very erroneous frivolous and impertinent to the point in question For
nor only the probate of Wills and granting of administrations but also the cognisance of Ecclesiasticall crimes with power to use the Ecclesiasticall censures Yea and this authority of the execution of Ecclesiasticall censures have those Deanes either long since by some papall priviledges obtained or else by long use prescribed against the Bishops Whereby againe it is cleerely convinced that Episcopall excommunication used in the Church of England is not of divine Institution but only by by humane tradition For were it of divine right then could the same no more bee prescribed or by papall immunity bee possessed than could these Deanes prescribe power or be enfranchised to preach the word or to administer the Sacraments These things have we thus at large and more fully intreaâ—ed of to the end that the Kings Highnesse and His Parliament and all sorts of people might well understand how it is not altogether an unusuall and unaccustomed thing in the Church of England that private and inferiour ministers as they call them in their owne right and in their owne parochiall Parishes without any authority from the Bishop should exercise even the highest censure of the Church And that in sundry places of the Realme there is no preeminence in the matter of the execution of the censures attributed to a Bishop above a Minister Nay which is more than is attributed to a Bishop No more prcheminence given to a B than to a Minister or to a lay man in some places for the use of excommunication above a Lay man yea than to such a lay man who is authorized onely by a lay man to his office Which is evident by Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction and censures exercised a long time by Lay men in the peculiar jurisdictions of Newton Gronbie Anstie Soke of Rothely Evington and other parishes and Hamlectes in the Countie Leycester The Officers of all which places for their spirituall authority having not had any other warrant than such only as hath beene signed sometimes under the hand and seale of the right Honourable the Earle of Huntingdon deceased sometimes of the Honourable Sir Henry Grey Knight sometimes of Henry Skipwith Esquire and sometimes of others For the avoyding therefore of sundry intolerable inconveniences which hetherto hath ensued for want of that authority which the Law setled doth enable every Minister with It is most expedient that all humane authority in the execution of spirituall censures bee utterly taken away and that the divine and Evangelicall censures of Christ bee ministred in every Congregation where learned and godly Pastors with discreet Elders may bee had as from the minde of the Lord they were executed in the Apostolicall and Primitive Church I had almost forgotten to speake of one common and usuall kinde of jurisdiction spirituall in the use of the censures of the Church by the Archbishops which in cases of their Prerogative they have prescribed against the Bishops over the Presbyters and people of every Bishops Diocesse and Archdeacons jurisdiction within their provinces of one other common and usuall kinde of pretensed spirituall jurisdiction and use of the censures which the Archbishop and sometimes the Deane and Chapter sede Archiepiscopali or sede Episcopali vacante exercise and lastly of that spirituall kinde of jurisdiction and censures so called of the Church which Suffraganes and Archdeacons have and doe use As touching which supposed spirituall power both of the Archbishops and Archdeacons because the same their power doth not only belong unto them jure consuetudinario non scripto by unwritten and not by written Law I must conclude against the jurisdiction of the Archbishops Prerogative and against the Archdeacons jurisdiction in all cases as out of St. Cprian King Henry the eighâ— concluded against the Pope viz That their authorities can not bee from Christ Because Christ said ego sum via veritas vita He never said ego sum consuetudo Touching the jurisdiction of the Deane and Chapter the papall Law being abrogated how the same may lawfully now bee used otherwise than by sufferance and consent of the King and Realme I know not But of all spirituall authority exercised at this day in the Church of England the same seemeth to draw most neare to the semblance of the government practised by the Apostles and Primitive Church And might be approved in many points if so be the Deane â—nd Chapter being as it were a Senate of preaching Elders did no more commit the execution of their Ecclesiasticall juridiction to the wisdome of one Vicar generall or principall officiall than they doe put over the leassing of their Lands or dividents of their rents to the only discretion of one of their Bayliffes or Stewardes As for Bishops Suffraganes in England and in Wales how many there may be and what Cities and Townes are to be taken and accepted for their Seas it is at large expressed in a statute made for the nomination of Suffraganes By which statute also wee are given to understand that it remaineth onely in the disposition and liberty of every Archbiâ—hop and Bishop within this Realme c. to name and elect two honest and discreete spirituall persons being learned and of good conversation and them to present unto the King by their writing under their Seales making humble request to give to one such of the said two persons as shall please His Majesty such title name stile and dignity of Bishop of such Seas specified in the said act as the Kings Highnesse shall thinke most convenient for the same so it bee within the same Province whereof the Bishop that doth name him is Besides after such title stile and name given by the King it is said that the King shall preseâ—t every such person by his Letters Patents under his great Seale to the Archbishop of the same Province wherein the Towne whereof he hath his title name stile and dignity of Bishop and that the Archbishop shall give him all such consecrations benedictions and ceremonies as to the degree and office of a Bishops Suffragane shall be requinte It is further enacted and provided that every person nominated elected presented and consecrated according to that act shall be taken accepted and reputed in al degrees and places according to the stile title name and dignity that he shall be presented unto and have such capacity power and authority honour preeminence and reputation in as large and ample manner in and concerning the execution of such Commission as by any of the said Archbishops or Bishops within their Diocesse shall bee given unto the said Suffragane as to Suffraganes of this Realme heretofore hath beene used and accustomed And that no Suffragane made and consecrated by vertue of this act shall take or receive any manner of profits of the places and Seas whereof they shall be named nor use have or execute any jurisdiction or Episcopall power or authority within their said Seâ—s c. but onely such profits jurisdiction and authority as shall